Tag Archives: Hudson Valley

Amenia at a Glance

Hello and welcome. My name is Elena Ruggieri-Smithies and I’m a freshman at Vassar College. I’m originally from Columbus, Ohio, but I’m glad to be in Poughkeepsie for the next four years of my education. Though Ohio is known for its soybeans, cows, and corn, Columbus is a metropolis that dwarfs Poughkeepsie in size and population. Living here has opened my eyes to the beauty and simplicity of living away from a big city. I can now truly appreciate a night sky full of stars and the fresh air and even the quaint town of Arlington.DSC_0063
For our first field trip in this class, we traveled to Amenia, a small and inconspicuous town just forty five minutes away from Vassar. The trip there was a colorful blur of greens and yellows and browns of the country side. When we reached the one, lonely light we took a left to reach the farmer’s market. Here we parked and disembarked and surveyed the few white tents that housed the vendors and their goods. I saw fresh produce, olive oil, baked goods, homemade soaps, spices, dairy products, clothing, and more.

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I tried some of the tomatoes, even though my instincts told me they weren’t ripe, and yet to my surprise they tasted of summer and warmth. The spices in the gold lipped jars smelled delicious and brought back memories of my mom’s Italian cooking. The vendors at every stand were kind and inviting. I spoke with the vendor for Ronnybrook Dairy Farms and purchased a drinkable yogurt only to instantly fall in love with the wonderful mango flavor. Later I tried peach and then strawberry. Another stand I stopped by sold fresh baked goods such as brownies, scones, cookies, pies, and so much more.

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A cute diner sat on the corner of the main street intersection. The theater portion is said to open up later in the fall.

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Across from the diner was the town bank, a shimmering fountain (above) and a memorial to those who lost their life in battle (below).

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Some Old and Some New

selfHello! My name is Leela Stalzer. As a native to Ulster County and as a frequent visitor to Dutchess, I was feeling as if everything in our class was going to be at least mostly familiar. I attended high school in Kingston, which is one of only six cities in what we are calling the Hudson Valley, and I’ve been to Montgomery Place, the Mohonk Mountain House (I think my parents had their wedding reception there), the Bread Alone Bakery, Woodstock, Fishkill (my grandmother lives there), DIA Beacon, the Clearwater Festival, the Tibetan Buddhist Monastery, Upstate Films, FDR’s house, the Vanderbilt Mansions, and many of the other places mentioned in class and in the articles we have been reading.

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However, the trip to Amenia made me realize that although I’ve had all these experiences in the Hudson Valley, living there has made me taken both its apparently uncommon beauty and its attractive culture for granted. I am also sure I will continue being surprised by how much I don’t know and how much I just didn’t realize about the place I consider home.

Please ignore the terrible selfie, and direct your attention instead to the other pictures, which evoke Amenia’s sense of beautiful simplicity. It seems to me that those who run the farmers’ markets, the vintage shops, and the drive-in theaters in the towns of the Hudson Valley hope to enjoy this simplicity, along with feelings of leisure, in their everyday lives. This is also, I think, part of what draws so many people to areas like Amenia.

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What a Wonderful…Thrift Shop

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Hola Dudes and Dudettes,

To the my fellow classmates, I would like to say: Welcome to the blogosphhere! We are very delighted that you have moved over to the tech side of things. You are no longer an average citizen, but a media HERO. Which is a fairly big deal, in my opinion. And to those interested in the Hudson Valley, thank you for stopping by our page to read about the wonderful sights and wonders that are in the Hudson Valley. I am very certain it will be fantastic viewing all that the Hudson Valley has to offer.

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I am typically referred to by my given name, Yasani (pronounced Ja-sani). However, I prefer to be called by my more modest name, Alien Technical Drama Savior. I feel this name captures the essence of my being, putting all of my wonderful abilities and characteristics into one fantastic phrase.

I am pretty well-rounded in the technical side of things. I guess you can say I know my way around a computer, well more like media software. I also am infatuated with the theatre. I love acting as well as watching, which is way less stressful. I consider myself an alien, as I am apart of the physics loving, science devoted species. I am an intended physics major, hoping to be apart of the engineering program. Lastly, I love clothes, the environment and FOOOD. Like this wonderful spread of sauces below! pic2

Our first stop in our Hudson Valley Experience was the quaint town of Amenia. Here we stopped at a wonderfully small farmer’s market. Above is an assortment of products that one vendor was selling that come straight from Greece. He had a superb variety of flavored olive oils, as well as fresh feta cheese and different sauces, all of which made my mouth jump for joy.

pic3Other vendors had a plethora of other items, such as locally produced milk, yogurt, and ice cream, fresh vegetables, and baked goods made from local products.

The farmer’s market of Amenia reflects the kind of town it is: small, quaint, and non-commercial. The two main streets in Amenia stop at “a light” in the center of the town. Unlike most towns, these main roads were not busy at all and neither were the little shops surrounding them. With a small antique store that is open “less than more” and a drive-in movie that hasn’t even begun showing any films, it is safe to say that this town isn’t a tourist destination in the Hudson Valley. It is, however, a great, quiet place to stop through and do some great antique or thrift shopping.

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Storm King Art Center

IMG_3231On a fantastic late summer day, I took my family to the Storm King Art Center in Mountainville (Orange County). The museum is a sprawling, 500-acre estate showcasing massive outdoor works of sculpture and environmental art. IMG_3245 Storm King Art Center is nestled in a foothill of the western face of Storm King Mountain. A lot of people were visiting on this day, but aside from the museum building, the parking lots, and the cafe, you can have a real solitary experience wandering the grounds.  On the other side of this outdoor is the New York Thruway; the distant sound of cars whizzing by is the only thing that interrupts a total immersion into art and land.

IMG_3282First opened in 1960, the museum is perhaps one of the primary ways that the high art worlds of New York City and the world have come to know the Hudson Valley’s landscape. Some of the very top names in art have huge works on display here: Roy Liechtenstein, Richard Serra, Maya Lin, and so on.  One indication that the museum’s patrons come largely from the New York City area is the fact that a Storm King Art Center membership includes a discount on renting a Zip Car; NYC residents often don’t own cars, and this place is really only accessible via auto or bus.

IMG_3257The highlight of our visit was Maya Lin’s work, Storm King Wavefield. Whereas most of the works are metal sculptures that visitors are asked not to touch, this “piece” is made of the earth itself. Visitors can walk (or run, as my kids did) up and down, lie down, hide behid, and otherwise traverse the slopes that Lin designed.

IMG_3292Click here to learn more about Storm King Art Center.

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